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It may feel strange not to, but don't c:hill the dough yet. Shape it into two disks and start rolling; you can chill the dough once the pie is assembled. This method is unconventional, but author Carolyn Weil says that ultimately you get the most tender result because you don't have to struggle with a disk of chilled, hard dough. Feel free to flour the surfac:e, and slide that dough around. Having your dough stick is worse than using too much flour, most of which can be brushed off after rolling anyway. After every few strokes of the rolling pin, free the dough from the surface by sliding and turning it. mold it into a small cube without your fingers getting greasy? If so, your butter is still cold enough and you can proceed with adding the water. If the butter feels soft and your fingers look greasy, put the mixturebowl and all-in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes until the butter and flour pieces are firm again. This is a great tip to remember when you're baking on hot summer days. Rolling the dough right away means no struggle and a tender texture The next step in my process may seem like heresy to some experienced pie-makers, but trust me, it works beautifully. Once you've added the water to your dough, most recipe have you shape the dough into a disk and then refrigerate it for a period, in order for the butter to get firm again and the gluten in the dough relax. This is all well and good, except than now you're left with a disk of very hard, chilled dough that will take so much muscle to become malleable enough to roll (we've all een bakers banging their disks with a rolling pin) that the dough gets overworked and tends to crack. I find that rolling out the dough, haping the pie, and chilling the assembled pie for 15 to 20 minutes before baking produces the perfect texture. But if the dough rounds seems to be getting limp or greasy as you're working, you can just pop them into the refrigerator (on a piece of parchment or a baking sheet) until they're cool enough to work with again. (Recipes follow) but more fruit releases more juices, and if the level of fruit and juices is higher than the rim of the pan, the juices will leak and spill over. 5. pie for Chill the filled minutes before baking. This 20 AUGU T/SEPTEMBER 2001 lets the butter in the dough set up and the starch in the thickeners start to absorb liquid and swell, so they'll perform better in the oven. 6. Watch the bubbles to see when the pie's done. Juices will probably bubble out of the slits during the latter part of baking. At first the bubbles will be fast, indicating thin juices, but later they'll get lazy and slow, meaning the juices have thickened and the pie is done. completely before slicing. It's tempting to dig right in, but a hot pie will be liquid inside. You need to let the pie come to room 7. Cool the pie temperature so that the juices can set up and cloak the berries properly. The ideal serving method is to cool the pie and then gently heat a slice in the oven to get the butter in the crust warm and toasty. 77